33. Annalise
33
ANNALISE
M y eyelids trembled as I woke up in a pitch darkness. The dizziness made me furrow my brows, and the pain around my head ignited the fear inside me.
As I opened my eyes, I immediately noticed that I was sitting in a car’s trunk. I tried to move, but my wrists and ankles were tied together, restricting me from making any move.
I knew it would’ve been in vain to try to scream or even escape. It was nothing like I saw in movies.
I had never felt this kind of terror creeping inside my limbs. I felt powerless and the thought of meeting death soon was lingering inside my mind.
I was sitting on the chair, with my back turned to the window, and I didn’t even realize when someone put a napkin around my face. The smell was awful and I tried to escape the man’s grip, but it was impossible to do so. I instantly fell asleep and now I woke up in a trunk.
The car was moving, that was something I could tell by the way I was moving in every corner of that tiny space. The road we were on was for sure a road outside the city.
Am I going to die? Is Maksen alive? Is Katya alive?
Where are they?
The questions came into my mind like a destructive hurricane, leaving me on the verge of bursting out crying. I didn’t know what I could do, butI hoped that someone was going to save me from here.
It didn’t even matter what happened in the last couple of months. It didn’t matter that I found out who I was or that the only man I ever loved was going to marry my step-sister.
Nothing mattered anymore when you were put face to face with death itself.
My attention got caught by the car stopping and the sound of brakes echoing around me. My body started shaking uncontrollably as I heard voices coming from outside the trunk.
Was that the moment I was going to die?
The trunk door was opened and the soft sunrise light hugged me instantly. But I didn’t even get to make anything because the only thing I could see was the man in front of me who put the same napkin on my face.
The smell hit my senses instantly and…
I woke up.
I started looking around me and I noticed that I was sitting on a huge bed, but it wasn’t a surprise that I was tied up on it.
The room was beautifully decorated as if it belonged to a girl considering the shades of red it had everywhere. I tried to stand up, but the metallic chains that were wrapped around my wrists wouldn’t let me.
“Fuck this,” I whispered between my lips, trying to find something around me that could help me escape.
There was nothing but two empty bedside tables and a huge wardrobe in front of me. This time I didn’t just feel fear, but anger too.
Someone kidnapped me and put me to sleep twice as if I was a doll ready to play with. I felt sick thinking of it and I tried to pull my hands from the chains, but it didn’t work. It only made me squeal in pain as the metal rubbed against my skin.
“Who the fuck are you?” I yelled, and I instantly regretted my courage.
This impulse I felt wasn’t something I was used to when it came to how I behaved in certain situations. But now I couldn’t be the Annalise that would stay still and do nothing. I had to fight for myself. I had to be the strong woman I’ve always dreamt of.
At least for as long as it would take Maksen to come and save me from here.
What makes you think that he’s coming to save you? What if he’s dead already and you’ll die too?
My mind kept sabotaging me and the fear was growing bigger inside my heart. I shouldn’t have said anything because whoever brought me here was going to hurt me even more if I didn’t obey their demands.
I gulped, feeling drops of sweat rolling down my forehead and the moment I tilted my head to my right side, I heard the door opening. I started shaking uncontrollably as I saw a man entering the room.
He had a sick grin stretched on his face, and the marks he had on his cheeks made me think he had been through dangerous situations. He pinned me with his eyes, sending shivers down my spine as he stepped towards me. I could sense the smell of alcohol in his breath even from this distance.
“The little sunshine woke up,” he growled, letting his weight fall on the bed.
I pulled away, but I couldn’t avoid his touch as his fingers found their way to my legs. I hated that I had a dress on.
One. Two. Three.
I started counting in my head and I didn’t even realize that I closed my eyes until he gripped my face and made me look him in the eyes. His smirk stretched even more on his face, and my stomach twirled with fear.
“Why don’t you wanna look at me, sunshine? Am I not the prince charming you must’ve been dreaming of?”
“Leave me alone!” I yelled, trying so hard to escape his grip.
“I’m not doing anything to you,” he whispered, stumbling on his moves as his body towered over me. “Yet,” he added, putting his legs around my hips.
“Look, your aunt gave you these tiny pink panties I love so much.”
I looked down at myself and saw the pair of panties I was wearing. These were my favorites too. They had a little pink bow on them, so I guessed that’s why my uncle liked them too.
The resemblance of that moment of my childhood with what was happening now striked through my bones. I didn’t even know I could feel as frightened as I was now. I couldn’t even look at the man above me.
All I could do was to close my eyes and try to think about something else — something that would’ve helped me escape reality. And Maksen came into my mind instantly.
I needed him so fucking much. I needed to feel his touch, to feel his hands wrapped around my body; to feel safe. I needed him, but he was nowhere to be found. The thought of him dead made my body start to shake even more. I didn’t want to believe that.
Maksen was going to save me.
Maksen was alive and ready to kill these men as he always was to whoever did him wrong, especially to whoever harmed me in any way.
The man pulled my dress up on my thighs and I pulled my hands, trying once more to get away from the chains. No fucking chance.
I had to accept that he was going to do things to me. I had to bear the pain and accept it as a part of me, because I was already used to it. My soul couldn’t be broken even more, because if it would’ve been possible, I would’ve just disappeared.
His hands were wandering on my body, thirsty to feel me and discover each part of my skin, and I felt sicker with every second that was passing by. I was ready to throw up at any moment as the heat lashed at my insides because of how much fear I was feeling.
I wanted to escape. I wanted this to be over. But I heard the sound of his belt falling on the floor and that was the moment my mouth opened with a loud scream. He instantly put his hand on my face as his other hand was gripping my neck with such force I felt my breath shortening.
“Shut up, you fucking bitch!” he whispered close to my face. “Do you really think anyone cares about you?”
I was struggling under his grip, trying so hard to catch a tiny breath to keep my lungs filled with oxygen. He was pushing me even harder between the pillows and I felt my neck as if I had burning thorns stinging into my skin.
I opened my eyes when I felt my body draining from the last drops of vitality I had, and that was the moment a sound of a gun filled the entire room. My heart skipped a beat, but the man fell over me and his grip wasn’t hurting me anymore.
The tears rolled down my cheeks. I took a deep breath in now that I didn’t have anything stopping me from doing so, and the moment I turned my head to the door, I saw a tall man standing in front of it with a gun in his hand.
He offered me a smile as he came closer and the moment he reached the bed, he looked at the man above me and pushed him off of me.
Not ever for a moment did his eyes fall on my naked body as he approached me. His gaze was stuck on my face as he unlocked the chains around my wrists.
“He was getting on my nerves anyway. No man who is capable of such things deserves to live,” he spoke calmly as he put his gun at the back of his jeans.
I didn’t know who he was, but he seemed like a powerful man. His eyes were deep-set and his face was beautifully taken care of. He seemed the same age as Lukyan, but he didn’t seem anything like him. While Lukyan had the lightest color of eyes, he had the eyes of darkness.
He was intimidating me, and making me fear him too.
“Stand up, Annalise,” he said as he probably saw me gazing too much at him.
I gulped and pulled my hands to my body to fix the dress. Now that I was covered up, I felt safer. But then I rememberthat the man said he knew the one who was about to rape me, and nothing about him says he's rushing to help me escape. He could just as well be the man who kidnapped me.
I pulled my knees to my chest, wiping the tears off my face and thinking about a way to escape this situation. Nothing came to my mind considering that I had a man with a gun standing right beside me.
“You must be asking yourself why you’re here,” he started speaking as he positioned himself in front of the bed.
I could see his reflection in the mirror behind him and I could also see how bad I looked at that moment. I was just like a little lamb ready to be cut open.
I raised my gaze to him and gulped, hugging my knees to my chest. I didn’t give him an answer and he might’ve noticed that I wasn’t going to do it soon.
“Let me tell you my plan, Annalise,” he added, his voice filling the entire room and my heart too. “Your beloved father has turned into my enemy for the last two decades and he has pushed my limits ever since, but now has soared over them.”
I looked at him attentively and I noticed his jaw was clenched now. His wrinkles were much more pronounced now, as he seemed to be more angry than he had been just moments before.
Who is this man and why has my father turned into his enemy?
“What did he do to you now?” I finally found the courage to ask.
“He killed my son,” he continued, gritting his teeth as his hands were clenched on the bed’s frame. “Well, not him, but Maksen did it under his commands.”
Maksen killed someone.
Again.
I knew that was what he did, but it hit me in my heart now that I was hearing a father saying he lost his child because the man I was in love with killed him.
I gazed at him, feeling my heart rushing in my chest. My stomach twirled at the thought of Maksen killing that boy, but when I felt the wave of pain crushing into my soul, I wiped that thought off. I didn’t want to burst out crying now. It wasn’t the right moment for me to be vulnerable in any way.
“A-And why did you kidnap me then? Why should I be involved in this?”
“You were the only way I could’ve gotten Maksen to come here and talk to me,” he explained, putting his hands into his pockets.
The loud sound of a metallic squeal made us turn our gaze towards the window. The man grinned, taking a final look at me before heading to the door.
“And it worked, because he just arrived.”